Narendra Modi addresses supporters in India election victory parade

Thousands line streets of New Delhi after landslide win for Hindu nationalist
BJP amid suggestions that Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul may resign as
Congress party leaders following its worst ever performance

Narendra Modi celebrated his landslide election win with a victory parade through the Indian capital on Saturday amid reports that Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul were considering resigning as Congress party leaders following its worst ever election performance.

The 63-year-old leader flew into the capital in the late morning from his home state of Gujarat to bask in the glory of a landslide victory that saw his Hindu nationalist BJP win 282 seats in the Lok Sabha parliament to become the first to win a single party majority in 30 years.

Flashing a 'V’ for victory sign, Mr Modi was met by a cacophony of wedding brass band trumpets, firecrackers, smoke bombs and chants of ’Vande Mataram’, the name of India’s national song, from supporters dressed in his party’s saffron and green colours.

The controversial Mr Modi, who has been accused of failing to prevent the slaughter of up to 1,000 mainly Muslim people during the Gujarat riots in 2002, is expected to be formally sworn in as prime minister next week. He has vowed to revive India’s ailing economy, generate new investments and jobs and modernise its basic services.

As his cavalcade arrived at the BJP’s headquarters, 27-year-old fashion designer Lucky Singh said he had wanted to welcome Mr Modi in person to thank him for bringing new hope. “He is the final hope for India because the Congress is very corrupt. He’s for the whole of India”, he said as he waved the BJP’s lotus flag.

Anubhav Dhir, a 32-year-old party worker wearing an orange T-shirt bearing Mr Modi’s image, said his leader “is the one who can take India to the topmost world power, it’s history in the making”.

Mr Modi later flew to Varanasi, his constituency in India’s holiest city, where he took part in an “aarti” prayer ceremony on the banks of the Ganges and called on citizens to "change India" by cleaning up its streets and most polluted river.

"Cleaning our surroundings is also one way of serving Mother India," he said. "You have to do it, we all have to do it together".

Meanwhile the inquisition into the failure of Congress party, which won just 44 seats, began in earnest.

Both the Congress president, Mrs Gandhi, and her son Mr Gandhi, who led the election campaign, accepted responsibility for their party’s meltdown and party sources said there were reports that they were expected to offer their resignations at a Monday meeting of its ruling Working Committee.

The “Modi wave” that routed the Congress and its allies was borne of widespread anger at a series of corruption scandals that damaged the government, rising food prices and a slump in economic growth and jobs.

Dr Manmohan Singh addresses the nation (AFP)

Earlier on Saturday, Dr Manmohan Singh, the outgoing prime minister, defended his achievements in government and claimed India was stronger today than it was when he first took power in 2004. “My life and tenure has been an open book. I’ve always tried to do my best in serving this great nation of ours.

“In the last ten years we as a country have seen many successes we should be proud of. India is a far stronger country in every respect than it was a decade ago”, he said.

He wished the new government every success and said he had been proud to rise from “an underprivileged child of Partition” to become prime minister and believed India will grow as a “major powerhouse of the evolving global economy”.